Northampton man jailed for making 280 phone calls to council in four months

A Northampton man has been jailed after bombarding local council offices with hundreds of phone calls over a four-month period in defiance of a court order in place to protect staff.

Simon John Cave, aged 62, pleaded guilty to two breaches of a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting West Northamptonshire Council. Magistrates sentenced him to ten weeks in prison for each offence, to run consecutively, at a hearing on April 17.

Court documents showed Cave was accused of making 283 calls to the council’s out of hours number between April 11 August 11, 2022, and leaving 106 voicemails between December 23, 2021, and April 10, 2022. In addition to the jail sentence, he was ordered to pay £154 surcharge to fund victim services.

Cave, of The Square, Upton, had previously appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court back in December 2021 when he admitted using threatening or abusive words or behaviour and making obscene or menacing phone calls. He was fined and hit with a three-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting West Northamptonshire Council outside the hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and not to contact Northamptonshire Police unless in the case of a genuine emergency until December 2024.

Cave’s restraining order also meant he was banned from entering the authority’s offices at One Angel Square and The Guildhall without an appointment. Magistrates ruled the court order was “necessary to protect the staff of West Northamptonshire Council”.